


08:16:04

by changkyuwu



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, F/M, M/M, Other, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-17 16:27:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18968941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/changkyuwu/pseuds/changkyuwu
Summary: Disaster strikes when you go on a supply run together





	08:16:04

**Author's Note:**

> This is a drabble from a drabble game on my tumblr (@chang-kyuwu)

****It had become second nature to do things like this. Check your surroundings, find the exits, listen. Every bit of information was important when you went on a run. Knowing this was the reason you were still alive after so long.

Your group was pretty big, and you were doing well. The group was set up at a small highschool, and while things were tough at first, they’d gotten easier as you built up supplies. Now you rarely ever needed to leave.

The thing about that though, was that you had to. You’d go insane staying in that school all day. Which was why you still went on supply runs even when you were already well stocked.

And Xiumin always tagged along.

“Three minutes, twenty eight seconds,” Xiumin dumped a bag in front of you. “Six pack of double A batteries, pack of thirty nails,  _and_ two ramen twelve packs.”

“Four minutes, eight seconds,” you heaved your new duffle bag onto the table. “Six cans of beans, a new water filtration system, some pain killers,  _and_ a new machete.”

“... I was faster.”

“Well, I got better stuff.”

Going running with Xiumin had become a friendly competition. Everytime, you would compete for the best time and best supplies. Neither of you remembered how many times either of you had won, but you’d always brag about it for at least a day.

“Fine, fine,” he muttered. “What do I have to do to get that machete?”

“Nothing, it’s mine,” you responded. “You wouldn’t give me that scope last week, so I’m not giving you the cool sword.”

“Okay, I’ll trade you the scope then.”

Fuck. He’s got you.

“Alright, fine,” you muttered. “But I’m keeping the machete until we get home.”

Xiumin sighed but agreed anyway.

“You know, the sun is still up,” you said. “We have time to search a few more places.”

“We’d have to go further out,” Xiumin shook his head. “Maybe tomorrow.”

“Come on, we still have at least three hours of daylight left,” you said. “Even if we just start mapping out another area. We don’t need to go searching just yet.”

“It’s too dangerous,” Xiumin put on his firm parent voice. “We can go out tomorrow.”

“Okay,  _we_ can go out tomorrow,” you said. “But  _I_  am going out today.”

“This kind of stuff is the reason we’ve lost people,” Xiumin said. “We shouldn’t push our luck.”

“Then go home,” you waved him off. “It’s my life, I’ll do whatever I want.”

“I’m not going to leave you alone out here,” he objected. “Let’s just go home.  _Please_ Y/n.”

Oh, no. Oh, boy. It was so hard to say no when he looked at you like that. Like a puppy. Like a small child asking for candy. It was this exact face that got you to give up the last chocolate bar you’d found.

_Look away!_

“Can I at least do a double check of the buildings we’ve already searched?” You asked. “I don’t wanna go back just yet.”

“Okay,” he relented. “Just be careful.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” you turned to leave but Xiumin grabbed your wrist before you could head out.

“I mean it. Be careful.”

“Why are you so dad-like all of sudden?” You asked.

“It’s just… you’re not as cautious lately,” he answered. “You nearly got bitten last week. If I wasn’t there…”

“I had it handled,” you responded. “And if I  _do_ get bit, we have a handy new machete to stop the spread of infection.”

“That wasn’t my point,” he said. “You’ve been distant lately, out of focus.”

“I know what I’m doing,” you ripped your arm away from him. The concern was starting to become annoying.

“I know that, I’m sorry…” he said. “It’s just… if I lost you, I’d lose the world.”

Your anger dissipated at his soft tone. As much as being limited was annoying, you knew there were reasons for all these restrictions. Good ones, too. You just didn’t like them.

Xiumin started loading the car up as you double checked all the rooms in the house. You hated to admit it, but Xiumin was right about you being unfocused. Everything was just so bleak all the time. Sometimes, everything just seemed so worthless in the grand scheme of things.

You didn’t want to prove Xiumin’s concerns right though, so you made sure to pay extra attention to your surroundings as you continued searching. The chance of there being zombies around after you’d already checked was incredibly low, but you weren’t going to prove him right.

Then you heard creaking coming from above you… an attic.

You couldn’t let Xiumin know you’d missed a room, he’d definitely add that to your time and that could push Suho to choose him as the winner. So, grabbing the machete off the dining table, you began searching for the entrance.

It was in the middle off the hallway, one of those stupid pull down ones. You couldn’t believe you’d missed it. Checking to make sure Xiumin wasn’t in the house, you quickly opened up the entrance to the attic and climbed in.

You hadn’t grabbed a flashlight in your haste but there was a window shining a little light into the room. It gave you enough visibility to see the two chairs near the wall, one occupied by a zombie.

The undead man was tied to the chair, but he still tried to break out to reach you. The ties looked worn out and thin. He might actually be able to make it out if you give him long enough to try. You decided to end that risk before it became a reality by shoving the machete through his eye, effectively ending his reanimated life.

Then you turned your attention to the second chair. And the broken ties lying in front of it.

_Fuck._

You turned around just in time for a woman to jump at you and knock you to the ground. The machete fell out of your hands, too far for you to reach, and you only just managed to push her face away before she could chow down on your neck.

“That’s reserved for my boyfriend only, lady,” you kicked at her and rolled off of you.

She was starved, which made her weak, but also desperate for food. AKA you.

You landed another kick at her face before she could get up again, and then you went for the machete. The light seemed to be against you, shining at exactly every inch of the attic that you didn’t need it to, and not wherever your machete had landed.

Halfway through searching, you felt fingers digging into your shoulder and the lady pulled you backwards. You curled up your fist and hit her as hard as you could in the face, causing her fingers to dig in deeper. Her uncut nails cut through your skin, but you didn’t care as long as her teeth went nowhere near your skin. It was bodily fluids like saliva that spread it.

She pinned you to the ground though, her knees on your shoulders stopping you from even sitting up. When you flung an arm at her to push her off, she caught it. Then it wasn’t long before you felt something pierce the skin.

The zombie hadn’t fed probably ever, so the new taste distracted them enough for you to reach up with your other arm and dig your fingers into her eye. The scream she emitted nearly deafened you, but she let you go to scramble away.

You went straight back to searching for the machete and found it half underneath a set of drawers. Looking back at the lady now, she looked terrified, her hand over her bleeding eye as she stared at you.

Why did they have to look so…  _human_?

A second later, her brain matter was on the ground.

“What the hell was I  _just_ talking about not even  _two_ minutes ago?!” Xiumin dropped to the ground next to you, discarding his gun. “Did she bite you? Your neck is bleeding.”

“She only got her nails in there,” you turned your arm so the bite mark was out of sight. “No bites.”

“Thank God,” he muttered, wrapping his arms around you. “When I heard that scream, I thought I was going to find you with your insides on the outside.”

“Such little faith,” you tried to give him a reassuring smile when he pulled away from you. “I’m not letting any of my insides outside. It’s an out of bounds area for them.”

Xiumin chuckled. “You’re such an idiot, I love you.”

Fuck. Fuck, everything was fucked. You’d be dead within three days.  _Fuck_.

“I love you too,” you whispered, pulling him back into you.

-

“I can’t do this, I’m not doing this,” Suho took a firm tone. “I refuse. No. I’m not.”

“Pussy,” you muttered.

“I don’t care what you think of me!” He continued. “I’m not putting a bullet in your brain!”

“Oh, so you want me to do it?” You asked.

“It’s just your arm!” He said. “We could just cut it off, like we did with Yixing!”

“It’s too late,” you pulled the collar of your shirt to the side to display the darkened veins hidden there. “Infection had spread too far.”

“There has to be  _something_ ,” Suho said. “You can’t just… die.”

“We have this talk every time,” you said. “When it happened with Kris… we kept trying to think of alternatives. No matter how many times he told us to stop.”

“So why are you telling me to stop now?” Suho asked. “You know what it’s like to be in my position.”

“I guess it’s different when you’re the one in the noose,” you shrugged. “There’s literally nothing we can do. Either one of us kills me, or I die slowly and painfully and then kill my friends.”

“You need to talk to Xiumin,” Suho said. “If you want me to kill you, that’s my only condition.”

“I was kind of thinking of saving that for never,” you responded. “I’ll have to spend an hour talking to him as well, and… I don’t want to fight with him.”

“My only condition,” Suho repeated. “Talk to Xiumin, or it’s not happening.”

It didn’t take much convincing. You already wanted to, you just didn’t know what you were going to say.

“Yeah, okay,” you rubbed your temples, already feeling the stress. “I’ll talk to him.”

“Take your time,” he said. “Honestly, the longer you delay this, the better.”

You headed to the rec room, and found Xiumin in the middle of a game of cards with Chen. His smile gave away that he was winning, and you couldn’t help but admire it for a few seconds as he made another move that made Chen throw his hands up in frustration.

“Why do I even bother?”

“Because you don’t know any better.”

Chen sighed before his eyes landed on you and he waved you in. “Can you play the next round? I’m sick of losing.”

“How long’s this gonna take?”

Xiumin placed his last card, a five, down.

“I just lost,” Chen responded.

“You lasted nineteen seconds longer than the last game,” Xiumin said.

“Your guys little counting thing? It sucks,” Chen said. “I don’t need to know that you destroyed me in, like, three minutes.”

“Took me two minutes and four seconds last time,” you said.

“I hate you both,” Chen dropped his cards. “I’m going to bed, see ya’ll tomorrow!”

He gave you a salute as he left the room. If you were still alive tomorrow to see him, you’d be too sick to even speak…

“Do you wanna have a go at beating me?” Xiumin asked.

One last game wouldn’t hurt.

“Bring it,” you sat next to him as he reshuffled the deck.

“You know,” Xiumin said, dealing you your cards. “When Tao was bitten, I wasn’t there. We went out there together, but we were in seperate places.”

“I know, I remember,” you picked up your deck, and placed down a card that matched the one already on the ground.

“Well, I heard shouting,” Xiumin made his own move. “So I ran back to try and help him, but they got him in the neck. The moment I saw it, I shot him. It was easier to just do it there than wait and have some big, emotional talk.”

“Yeah,” you nodded. “‘Big, emotional talks’ aren’t really my thing either.”

“And there was a time I couldn’t,” Xiumin placed another of his cards down. “When I saw a bite and ignored it, tried to forget about it.”

“What happened that time?” You asked.

“I don’t know yet,” he responded, placing down his last card. “One minute, fourty eight seconds. You’re distracted.”

“I think you know why,” you shrugged. “Nothing gets past those eyes, huh?”

“It’s the reason I always win when we go running,” he said. “I guess there won’t be much competition next time though.”

The both of you were silent for a moment before you felt a hand within yours. “I’ll do it.”

“I already asked Suho, you don’t need to-”

“No, I want to,” Xiumin said. “It can’t be Suho, or I’ll just look at him and think of you, and, well, I can’t let anyone else do it. I’ll hate them.”

“Okay,” you weren’t sure what exactly you should say in this situation. What was there to say? What could possibly be said to make things better?

“Can we just… do it tomorrow?” Xiumin asked. “I just… I want you here as long as possible.”

“Yeah,” you readily agreed. “We need sleep anyway, we should get some rest first.”

Xiumin wore a small smile, one that looked broken. “That’s a good idea.”

Despite going to bed, you couldn’t get any sleep. And from the way Xiumin held you, as tight as he possibly could, you assumed he wasn’t getting any sleep either.

Eventually, you had to close your eyes, because opening them caused the world to spin. And not long after that, you had to take off the blankets because the room was getting too hot.

Xiumin noticed it all. The heavier breathing, the constant scratching at the mark on your arm. He’d only tightened his hold. It couldn’t go on like that forever though. After being in and out of a feverish sleep for what felt like hours, you were forced up in a coughing fit.

Xiumin had left the bed briefly to grab you a tissue to cough into, already knowing you were coughing up blood without being able to see it. He’d seen it time and time again from countless friends before.

“Fuck, this sucks,” you muttered as the fit died down. “I haven’t been sick in ages, I forgot how shitty it is.”

“It’s fine,” you felt Xiumin stroking your hair gently. “It’ll be over soon.”

You hadn’t noticed earlier, but he’d also grabbed his gun when he brought you a tissue. “Can you do it now?”

You felt him stiffen and the room was silent again until you couldn’t hold in another coughing fit. Xiumin held you the entire time, rubbing circles into your back as your throat felt like it was being torn apart.

“I don’t know if I can,” Xiumin finally spoke. “I thought I could, but... I don’t want to.”

“Please... I need you.” you could barely hear your own voice, and the pain that speaking caused you was already starting to be too much.

Looking at Xiumin’s face, you could see tears running down his cheeks, but he nodded. You leant back against him, trying to focus on the breaths that were becoming increasingly hard to take. Soon enough, you felt something cold pressed against your temple.

“There’s a silencer on that, right?” You asked.

“Yeah, I’m not going to deafen myself,” despite the snark, his voice was still shaking.

“I’m really glad I got to meet you.”

“I’m not. You can’t even being to understand the amount of emotional turmoil you’re causing me.”

You gave a slight laugh, but it only erupted into more coughing. Thankfully, the fit was much less intense this time.

“Even though I wish I hadn’t met you,” Xiumin said. “I’m glad I did.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” speaking was only making it harder to breathe, but you tried your best to hide it. He almost certainly picked up on it, anyway.

“Goodbye, Y/n.”

“Thank you, Xiumin.”

One second passed.

Two.

Three.


End file.
